Life starts all over again
when it gets crisp in the fall.
Welcome to The Simple Things, a newsletter inspired by one of my favorite Oscar Wilde quotes. Today’s titular quote is from F. Scott Fitzgerald.
I tend to ramble, so you might have to expand this email to avoid missing anything. If you enjoy reading this newsletter, please let me know by hitting the heart button or subscribing!
How about another day diary for your reading pleasure?
6:00am It’s the three-alarm gang again. This week, J and I are experimenting with living together for a week so I cuddle with him a bit before I have to get up to work out. Scotty, ever the optimist, has somehow wedged himself in between us in the bed. Riley, J’s dog, has claimed my overstuffed chair/clothes holder as his bed.
6:15am It’s strength training with Coach Jen and the Apple Fitness+ team in their sunny LA studio. The weights are heavy but the playlist is fire.
7:10am Cuddle puddle, then take Scotty out for his morning walk. There’s a high-strung doodle down the street that always loses his goddamn mind when he sees Scotty in a less “Happy to see you” way and more “I’m going to fucking murder you” way. Scotty for the most part ignores him but sometimes he’s sick of this guy and barks back. Today he whined a bit but avoided engaging. Good poops.
7:40am Breakfast is egg whites with spinach and sour cream and onion-flavored cottage cheese and a side of blueberries. I usually take my breakfast with me to eat in the office, but when I’m home, I like to make myself a piping hot cuppa tea, builder’s style: 2 bags of Yorkshire Tea stewed until water looks like weak coffee, 2 spoonfuls of sugar, and a splash of milk. When the liquid is an opaque, light brown shade, it’s perfect.
8:50am Shower and change into a black silk slip dress with a blue shirt and chunky black Birkenstock Arizonas. I head off to our downtown showroom (a little late 😬).
9:31am I drop off a box of small porcelain pagodas and plates at the loading dock because we tend to have a lot of cash and carry customers during these small seasonal markets. One of our sales reps, S, brings the cart up while I go park my car. I was annoyed at myself for running behind, but there is literally no one on any of the showroom floors.
10:00am Emails, phone calls, make a note to myself to find a new harp manufacturer because the ones we recently ordered makes the shades look a little crooked. Sneak in a few pages of my eBook while things continue to be slow.
10:35am We get a few designers in, some buy a few decorative plates, but most are looking for more vendors and sources for their rolodex to use in future projects.1
11am More emails. More phone calls. More online orders come through.
12pm It’s quiet again so I take lunch. I have baked chicken meatballs with a homemade maple dijon sauce, mashed potatoes, and sautéed broccoli with some small leftovers from our visit to Gene’s over the weekend. Wash it all down with a Diet Coke, which I’ve started drinking again. Why is it so good??
1pm Showroom appointment arrives with her clients and S goes over to assist. It’s a nice order with numerous quantities of some of our bestsellers. Meanwhile I’m in the back office area trying to scrub some stubborn antique finish off a pair of foo dog figures.
2pm What’s for dinner tonight? Half a pork butt from a BBQ fundraiser on Sunday.
2:10pm (Googles “how to make posole?”)
2:15pm (Googles “homemade green enchilada sauce recipe”)
2:30pm I’m way overthinking this — gonna stop by Publix to pick up some Hawaiian Rolls and coleslaw for pulled pork sliders.
3pm Helped a customer select some lamp shades for a project. Talked to another one about our custom made-to-order lamps. Continued reading the book I was working on earlier in the day, Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon, a modern day retelling of the Demeter, Persephone, and Hades myth, but Demeter is the executive director of an agricultural NGO named Emer, Persephone is an aimless 19-year-old camp counselor named Cory, and Hades is the pharma exec named Rolo that gives her a job nannying his two kids on his remote island. Cory is ferried to the island by Sherry (Charon) and meets Rolo’s three dogs (Cerebus, ha ha). I’m not sure where it’s going, but I’m here for the ride.
4pm No last minute requests or fires to put out, so I call it a day. I drive to the Publix in Ansley Park where everyone is just SO NICE TO EACH OTHER. A kid drops an avocado and the woman notifies him before it wobbles away. An older man wearing electric blue glasses apologizes for cutting me off in line (he didn’t) and makes small talk with the cashier, who tells him he looks like Elton John and he replies, “Why he’s a really good friend of mine! He’ll get a kick out of that.” While I trying to dig 2 pennies out of my wallet, the woman behind me offers me her 2 pennies to help. People in the parking lot were returning their carts to the appropriate places and drivers were observing all the stop signs. It was like I was in another timeline in the multiverse.
5pm I’m greeted at the door by two wet snouts and respond with pets and ear scratches. I schlep my bags to the kitchen where J and I talk about our day while we put dinner together. We lose Riley for a second but find him next to his food bowl and realize we forgot to feed our dogs. This is quickly rectified with endless apologies. After all, this is their world and we’re just living in it.
8pm J goes out. K and I catch up on the phone as she walks to yoga.
9:30pm K’s yoga class ends and we pick up where we left off in our conversation. Share some Tillamook Oregon Black Cherry ice cream with J, which is so delicious. Tillamook is the best ice cream you can get in the freezer section and more bang for your buck than those little pints (which I still love).
9:40pm I prep breakfast and bag for tomorrow morning’s swim. I want to have another scoop of ice cream but I remind myself I can always have more tomorrow.
Off the Clock
The Lake Como house in the Mr. and Mrs. Smith series is available for rent. [via The Sunday Digest 148]
Kehlani’s “Folded” is all I’ve been listening to this week. I used Chosic to look up other songs that sound similar and build a playlist of more slow jams. Maybe I’ll learn the choreo next? Also recommend: Mariah the Scientist’s “Is it a crime” ft. Kali Uchi and a Snoh classic, “I want you around”.
Dr. Michael Hurd on The Meaning of intellectual loneliness:
50 ways to unplug and feel human again. [Inside Hook]
Photographer Noah Kalina has a YouTube channel of peaceful videos. Great for meditations or just to have on the background. Also great is this channel of piano music set to cartoons on a loop.
Taste is how you protect your mental environment. When you sharpen your discernment, you stop being swayed by trends. You stop needing consensus. You stop reacting to every new thing like it’s urgent.
– stepfanie tyler’s “Taste is the New Intelligence”
I love a cute pajama set. [Piyama]
Love you with a side of ranch,
G
In case you were wondering, my day job is creative director for a family-owned wholesale home decor business. We import and sell accessories and tabletop lighting to the trade (retail shop owners/buyers and interior designers). In the past, markets were the only place where designers and buyers could look and order products. Now that ecommerce has taken over, these markets are more for networking and catching up with established customers than sales.
The positive mornings with Snoopy...!!!! Excellent find.